


Infected

by TheIceQueen



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Chick-Flick Moments, Confusion, Crying, Dean Winchester Needs a Hug, Dean is In Over His Head, Doctor Sam Winchester, Fever, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt Jack, Hurt/Comfort, Infection, Injury, Mechanic Dean Winchester, Medical, Men Crying, Mild Blood, Needles, Nightmares, Pain, Painkillers, Past, Past Child Abuse, Poor Jack, Sam Winchester is a Saint, Sam Winchester to the Rescue, Scared Dean Winchester, Scared Jack, Self-Doubt, Stitches, loss of consciousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 10:34:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17465915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheIceQueen/pseuds/TheIceQueen
Summary: Dean and Sam took Jack in about a year ago. Jack comes down with a fever and, despite Dean's own fear, he has to bring Jack to see Sam at the hospital.





	Infected

**Author's Note:**

> Written for:  
> Sam Winchester Bingo / Doctor!Sam  
> SPN Genre Bingo / Chick Flick Moment  
> Bad Things Happen Bingo / Hospital stay
> 
> Thank you to the lovely sarasaurusrex for helping me by being a Beta on parts of this one.

Sam loved his job. He had the perfect career. Helping people every day at the clinic and once in a while, if they needed extra hands, he was called down to the emergency room.

This day he’d been at the clinic for about four hours when the voice from a colleague sounded over the speaker. Sam ran to the elevator. They must be overrun by patients. She was the rock of the ER, an experienced doctor, never stressed, and now she sounded almost desperate.

He could hear him before the doors opened. Dean had never been to Sam’s workplace. He hated places like this. It was a wonder he hadn’t kicked Sam out when he announced that he was going to medical school.

“Get my brother down here!”

“He’s on his way. Calm down sir.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down! Dammit, look at him!”

“We can help him, if you just…”

Sam took a step into the room and watched everyone else take a step back. Dean was holding Jack up in a tight grip, basically carrying him.

“Dean?”

“Sam! He’s…”

Sam waved over a gurney and held up Jack’s head with both hands. He’d been building a fewer the day before, but nothing to worry about, now he was burning hot and only just managed to focus on the familiar face in front of him. “Let’s get you up here.”

Jack sighed something resembling an okay and let Sam take his knees. Dean pulled the boy back before Sam could lift him.

“We’re not staying!”

Sam looked at his brother, pale faced and sweating, nothing close to how Jack looked though.

“Dean. He needs a hospital.”

“He needs _you_. That’s why we came. I couldn’t leave him at home, while I got you.”

Sam had his arm under Jack’s and grabbed Dean’s shoulder with the other. Locking eyes with his older brother.

“I can help him _here_ … Dean, let me help him.”

Dean took a few seconds too long to weigh his options and Jack lost what little control he had over his legs and went heavy in the brother’s grip. Sam didn’t wait, and lifted his surrogate little brother up on the bed, surprised to see Dean helping.

“Just don’t let anyone else touch him!”

The look Sam shared with the doctor as they started walking down the hallway, confirmed that it was very much okay for him to only have one case the rest of the day.

Jack looked wearily up at them, clearly confused to be moving. “Dean…”

“I’ve got you.” Dean took a firm hold on his shoulder.

Sam wanted to do the same, but he was the only one navigating the bed, and he needed to find an unoccupied room.

“Jack. You’ll be just fine. Stay a wake for a little longer, okay?”

* * *

When Sam locked the wheels on the bed, Jack’s hand found Dean’s.

“Sam is gonna fix you right up and then we’ll leave.”

Sam took Jack’s wrist and when Jack pulled away, he placed a calm hand on his shoulder. “Just checking your pulse.”

Jack eased back into the pillow but didn’t take his eyes of Sam. Sam had suspected Jack to have a thing about hospitals too, but they had never had to test that theory. Dean had always taken precaution in his auto-shop and after Jack started working there, he’d taken it to a whole new level. Besides, having a doctor in the house meant that they would know if a flu or a stomach-bug got to be too serious, which it never did.

Sam took notice that the pulse was strong but very fast. It was clear to everyone that he was breathing too fast. “Dean, take his shoes and jeans of. We need to cool him down a bit.”

When Dean started on Jack’s shoes, Sam took the ear-thermometer and reached to steady his head by his jaw. Jack turned away and lifted a slow arm to shield himself.

“It’s alright Jack. I’m just checking to see how high your fever is.”

“No…”

Dean left the shoes on the younger guy’s feet and was back holding his shoulder in a split second. “Hey, hey. It’s all good. Sam is helping.”

The shakiness in Dean’s voice was too obvious for Jack not to notice. If Dean couldn’t keep it together, he might have to kick him out. That wouldn’t be pretty and if Jack was truly scared, it would for sure make everything that much harder on him.

Jack looked from Dean to Sam and back, still pulling himself to Dean’s side of the bed.

“Jack…” Sam held up the thermometer in front of him and placed the tip on the back of his own hand. “It’s not doing anything. See?” He pressed the button and waited for the beep, before he showed Jack his hand.

“You can do that.” Dean placed his hand on th top of Jack’s head, rubbing his thumb into the dark-blonde hair.

It took Jack a few seconds to agree and nod at Sam to go on. Sam wasn’t sure Jack trusted a word that came out of Dean’s mouth, Sam wouldn’t have; both of his hands were shaking on the boy, but he laid still and let Sam work. Maybe he was just too tired to put up a fight; his head felt heavy in Sam’s hand and when the brothers let go, Jack only hummed in absent discomfort as his head dropped to the side.

“Jack…?” Dean took the boy’s hand and provoked a small smile even with his eyes still closed, and Dean looked at Sam. “So…?”

“105.9. Get him out of the jeans. I need a blood sample and to set up an IV.”

“Does he really need that? Can’t you just…”

“Just what?!” Sam turned with half the of the things he heeded already in his hands, looking at his older brother fighting with the second of Jack’s shoes. “Give him a pill…? Or maybe a cold shower? You made him do that last night if I remember correctly.”

“Yeah, but…” Dean looked at the box of gloves in Sam’s hand and Sam could swear that Dean lost another shade of color in a second.

“We’re passed that, don’t you think?!” Sam stole a quick look at Jack, who didn’t seem to have realized that they were talking about him. “Now, get on with it!”

Sam turned his back and took a few deep breaths while he gathered the last of the stuff. He needed to be calm. He saw fever like this all the time, it always looks worse than it is. As soon as he could find the reason, Jack would be fine. It didn’t help to have his own panicky brother in the room, and he still wasn’t sure Dean was actually helping Jack by being there.

Normally, Sam would stand while doing everything, but this time was different, he knew Jack, and for his and his own sake, he needed to make it seem like things weren’t going as fast. He threw Dean a sheath to cover Jack’s legs and then sat down on the edge of the mattress and took Jack’s cold sweaty palm in his.

“Jack. Can you hear me?”

Jack turned his head in Sam’s direction, opened his eyes to a sliver and hissed as he tried to move himself up a bit.

“Lie still. You don’t have to do anything.”

Jack nodded and slowly turned his head to search his limited view of the room. Dean had taken a step back and was clearly shaking more than before. Sam gave him a look that could just as well have been a shout across the room. Giving himself time to force a smile, Dean walked over slowly and sat down on the chair next to the bed.

Sam rubbed Jack’s lower arm, making the boy look up at him, and to specify what he was talking about he rubbed the crease of Jack’s elbow with his thumb. “Listen. I need a blood sample from you and them I’m going to give you some fluid and antibiotics. It will make you feel better.”

Being a doctor, Sam knew that it was possible to breathe faster than Jack already did, but it still surprised him to see the pace he build up in an instant.

“It’s okay Jack. It wont take more than a second.”

Jack shook his head, probably as fast as he could which wasn’t a lot, and tried to take his arm from Sam. Without much strength, Sam steadied him and rubbed his lower arm slowly.

“Jack…”

“No. Sam… No…”

Jack’s other hand reached out for the older Winchester and it seemed like Dean was waken from a trance. He pulled the chair closer, sat on the edge and held the hand in both of his. “Jack… I’m here.”

“Don’t let him…” Jack broke off in a sob.

Sam was sure Dean would be half way across the parking lot in a half a minute, carrying Jack over his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, kid. I can’t do that… You need this.”

Jack’s chin quivered when he looked back at Sam, and he suddenly felt the urge to break the kid out of there himself.

Sam put on gloves and cleaned the skin on Jack’s arm. He didn’t let go of him as he took the needle, and Jack failed in pulling away.

“Don’t look, okay?” Sam’s voice was close to shaking. He couldn’t let that happen. Jack’s family consisted of only the people in that room. He had two adults in his life, two people to look up to and learn from. There had to be one in there who wasn’t overcome with emotions. Or didn’t show it.

Jack’s eyes were locked on the needle and Dean’s was too. Sam cleared his throat and caught eye-contact with his brother. “Are you going to help?”

Dean looked at the needle again and then at Jack’s hand holding tight onto his. When he finally nodded, Sam took a deep relieved breath. “Okay. Good. I need you two to look at each other.”

Sam could hear Dean trying to control his breathing and wondered for a second if he was going to throw up.

“Dean!”

Dean shook his head as if he got rid of pictures in there and finally, he took hold of Jack’s chin and turned him to took away. “We better do as he says. You know how he gets.”

Sam could feel his brother shaking through Jack, and wondered who was more scared.

“Okay, Jack. Breathe.” Sam put the needle to the skin and when Jack didn’t move, he continued.

A quiet sob escaped Jack’s lips and Dean stood up and leaned in over him, pressing their joint hands to the smaller guy’s rapidly moving chest. “It’s all good. You’re doing it.”

When the tube was finally filled, Sam took away the needle and already hated himself for the next one. Jack turned to look, but Sam caught his chin with the back of his hand, pushing his head back for Dean to steady.

“Not yet, one more.”

“Sam…” Jack’s didn’t even try to conceal that he was bound to cry in a minute and Sam’s throat blocked and made him swallow a couple of times before speaking.

“I get it. I’m almost done. Look at Dean.”

While cleaning the back of Jack’s hand, Sam looked at his brother standing over Jack. He was brushing his fingers through the boys hair, undeniably to hide that he was holding Jack's head turned away from Sam. His other and was still locked tight around Jack’s. Sam nodded approvingly to himself and then got the IV needle ready.

“Breathe.”

Jack gasped loudly and in the corner of his eye, Sam could see that, just for a second, Dean struggled with holding keeping him still.

“I want to go home.”

“I know, kid. Soon.”

Sam wished that his brother was telling the truth, but they still didn’t know why Jack had a fever in the first place.

* * *

When Sam had connected the IV-line, and went to call someone to take the blood to the lab, Jack pulled his arm onto his stomach like he was still protecting it. Dean sat down on the other side of the mattress and Sam saw him reach for that hand too, but he stopped his moment before he touched the medical tape covering it.

“It’s okay to you use your hand. It won’t hurt.” If it was wishful thinking Sam didn’t know, but in this moment, Jack didn’t look scared of him. At least not when he didn’t have anything in his hands. “There’s no needle in there it’s just a rubber tube.”

Jack nodded, but the excitement of the last ten minutes had taken its toll on the fatigued boy and he was beginning to doze off.

“Hey, Jack.” Sam sat down on the bed too, and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. Jack’s eyes sprung open and Dean tensed up, looking ready to fight.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Sam squeezed lightly on the lower arm from before. “I’m not doing anything.”

Both of the guys took a calm breath and seemed to relax some, but Sam knew that this was not going to become easier if they would have to stay for very long.

“I need to know why you have a fever.” He got eye-contact with the weary boy. “Jack, are you hurting anywhere?”

“Yeah…” Jack looked from one brother to the other, slowly loosing the fight to stay awake.

Dean shook Jack lightly by his upper arm. “Jack…? C’mon…”

Jack took a deep breath and looked at Sam. “It hurts… like, everywhere.”

“A fewer this high will do that. It’s not dangerous in itself.” Sam made sure that Dean heard that too. “Where does it hurt the most?”

Jack looked at the hand resting on his stomach, fiddling the sheath over him.

“Your stomach?”

“Yeah, a bit…” Jack didn’t look up.

This was good. They were figuring it out and the stomach could be so may things, most of which was an easy fix.

“When did that start? Did you have a stomachache yesterday too?”

“No…” Jack was thinking hard, maybe slightly confused. With his eyebrows folding a perfect frown between them and his mouth barely open as if he’d frozen mid-word, it was hard not to smile at how much he looked like Dean. “Maybe in the car…?”

Sam and Dean looked at each other and without saying a word Dean’s hand moved from Jack’s arm to his own stomach. Neither of them needed to even nod at that.

“Jack…?” It was getting harder to get contact with him. “Anything hurt before the fever?”

Even biting his lip, Jack couldn’t hide that his chin was quivering, and when he turned his head away from Sam, both brothers saw the tear breaking from his eye.

“Hey, kid. What is it?” Dean quickly wiped the drop away with his thumb.

When Jack closed his eyes and tried to turn further away, Dean sent Sam a desperate look. “Sam, what the hell?”

Sam shook his head. He had no idea what could prompt such a reaction from Jack. He was normally a happy kid, or he’d gotten to be one. Sam of course knew some of what Jack had been through, but he’d often wondered how messed up a life he must have had that, that he’d been able to change that much in just a year with them. Besides from the nightmares, Jack wasn’t scared anymore. This was the first time in over nine moths him and Dean had seen anything like this. All this medical stuff was really freaking him out.

“Wait… Jack?” Sam turned Jack’s head towards himself and waited for him to open his eyes.

Eventually, Jack took a deep breath and slowly looked up at his surrogate big-brother. “Did you hurt yourself and didn’t tell us?”

He could feel Dean’s eyes boring into him, but Sam didn’t break eye-contact. Jack did.

“It got infected didn’t it?” Sam was still holding Jack’s chin as the boy nodded.

“I’m sorry… I… I couldn’t…” Jack sniffled and turned his head away again. “I can’t.”

Dean was frozen solid on the edge of the bed, his hand locked around Jack’s, only his eyes were moving rapidly, not that he looked at anything Sam could see. It would be a waste of time to try to get Dean to help, so Sam did his best to ignore him and make Jack do the same.

“Jack. I need to see it. Where is it?”

“No…”

It looked like Jack was fighting with every cell in his body not to start crying out loud. Sam took a deep breath and once a gain willed himself to not show, that seeing and hearing Jack like this made him close to tears himself. He cradled the boy’s head in both of his large palms and leaned in so Jack had nowhere to see but at him.

“It’s _alright_. I can help, but you gotta let me.” Jack looked down but with a thumb lightly brushing over his temple, Sam waited for him to look up again. “Let me just take a look, okay?

With a deep breath, Jack almost forgot to let out, he nodded and tried to lift his shoulder but surrendered to his weary and sore muscles with a deep sigh.

“Okay, okay. Let us do the work.”

If Dean hadn’t come to when Sam elbowed his side, he’d might have knocked his older bother to the floor. With a quick look between them Sam demanded Dean to go into action. Sam took Jack’s upper arm and supported his neck as Dean took the other arm. When Jack was leaning chest against Dean’s chest, chin on his shoulder, Dean held him up by an arm around his waist and a hand on the back of his head.

Jack was breathing faster and was clearly dizzy judging from the way his head rested on Dean with his eyes half open. The kid was exhausted, it looked like he’d given up on doing anything by himself. His arms were hanging limb down his sides and his hands not moving, but he lifted both and grabbed on to Dean’s shoulders as soon as Sam started cutting the sweaty t-shirt of him.

“It’s just your shirt. You’re good.” Dean hugged Jack tighter and sent Sam a look telling him to leave their kid the hell alone.

As soon as Jack had sat up, Sam had seen the shape of a square bandage on the back of his shoulder. How the hell had both of them missed that, for what must have been days? He cut Jack’s sleeves too and pushed the fabric away from the back and shoulders. The bandage looked clean, he must have been trying to take care of it, but the skin around it was red and even warmer than the rest of the boy.

“It doesn’t look like it’s that big. Just stay like that, while I take the bandage off.”

Jack pressed his head a bit harder into Dean’s shoulder and, while he put on gloves, Sam prayed God that the kid wouldn’t need stitches. Not that it mattered, he would most likely have to numb the area before trying to clean it anyway. The bandage came of rather easy and, though hissing and hugging Dean tighter, Jack sat still through it.

The injury wasn’t deep. It wasn’t long either; maybe little over three inches, but it was infected and had been for quite some time. And it _did_ need stitches, if only two or three.

Sam sat down next to Jack’s knees, allowing himself to be in the boy’s line of sight when he took his hand from Dean’s shoulder.

“You need to lie down. Will you be okay to lie on your side?”

Jack held tighter to Sam’s hand and used it to pull him further up and into Dean’s grip.

“You can lie on your stomach too, but I think it will be easier for you on the side. I can’t fix it like this.”

Jack’s eyes finally found Sam’s.

“Fix it?”

Sam nodded and sent the boy a small smile. “Yeah Jack. I’ll clean it and you need stitches. But you already expected that, right?”

Jack bit his lower lip and closed his eyes before he nodded. Sam wondered if he was tired enough to be able to sleep through it all. But he pushed it aside as wishful thinking.

“Okay. I’ll put on a clean bandage while I get ready.”

Neither Dean nor Jack moved as Sam put on the bandage, and when Sam helped Jack lie on his side facing Dean’s side of the bed, the older Winchester moved accordingly to let them work, but he didn’t nothing but hold Jack’s hand. Sam didn’t press it. He was sure Dean was on the verge of tears or maybe close to throwing up.

Sam pulled the sheath up over Jack’s shoulder and watched him relax just for a second. “Give me a few minutes to get everything ready, okay?”

Jack nodded, but was breathing faster.

“I… Sam…”

Sam couldn’t see his face and the voice was almost nonexistent, but there was no doubt that the boy was crying. The grip he had on Dean’s hand was tight enough that none of them had colors in their fingers. Sam hated that Dean wasn’t helping. He was so good with Jack when he had nightmares, Sam figured that growing up taking care of a little bother with too big of an imagination would make you a natural at that.

“Dean…?” Jack was begging. Begging for someone to get him out of there, or maybe just begging for Dean to do something, _anything_.

Dean was only looking at their joined hands. It was almost possible to see the fight in his head. Stay and most likely make everything worse by freaking out, or leave now?

Sam put a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“Dean!”

He had never regretted an act so promptly after doing it, as when Dean spun his head and looked at him with tears building in his eyes. Before the first one fell, he was out of the room.

Jack’s initial gasp when the door closed quickly turned into short, way too fast, breaths. Sam rushed to the other side of the bed and hunched down in front of the boy’s confused and wet face. He took his hand and held it firmly.

“Jack. Listen. You’ll be…”

“D… dean…?”

Sam brushed a hand through Jack’s damp hair. “Shh. I’ll get him.”

“Is he…?” Jack’s eyes alternated between Sam and the door.

“Is he what?”

“Is he g…” Jack swallowed and took a few second to get enough air through his panting to keep on talking. “Did he leave?”

“No.” Sam smiled reassuringly. Dean was still there, that much he knew. He turned and saw a shape of a man pacing on the other side of the blinds.

“Look…”

He moved a bit so Jack could see, and then turned all his attention back to the boy. “You’re tired. You’re freaking out. How about all of us took a break?”

The blank look the crying boy gave him revealed that he was not following.

“Your fever hasn’t gotten worse and, yes we need to get that cut taken care of, but we can wait ten minutes.” Jack nodded slowly as the words registered and when he looked at the blinds again, Sam continued.

“You’re not okay with being here, only with me, are you?”

Jack bit his lower lip and the way he shook his head while still looking at Sam, all but tore the tall guy in pieces. He took his hand from Jack’s head and took his hand in both of his.

“It’s okay. I know it’s not me.”

Jack gave a little squeeze to Sam’s hand which was all he could have hoped for. Jack was sobbing.

“Now, how about that break? I’ll go kick Dean’s ass back in here and you get some time to breathe. Sounds good?”

Jack nodded and seemed to relax his body a bit more into the mattress, but he didn’t let go of Sam.

“Dean and I will be right there. None of us are leaving. Will you be okay alone for a while?”

A few deep breaths later Jack had calmed down almost to the original pace of feverish breathing. Sam placed Jack’s hand on the mattress and waited for Jack to nod before he left the silent boy alone.

* * *

“Dean!”

Sam had only just closed the door behind him before he threw the most blaming tone he could find at his brother. He looked through the crack under the blinds and made sure Jack wasn’t panicking in there. Then he turned all of his attention to his older brother who had just bailed in a time of need.

“Dean. What the hell?!”

Dean had his back turned, leaning with both hands on the back of a chair. With his jaw locked but ready to fire a stream of truths at his brother, Sam grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. Dean’s eyes were red, his chin quivering. Sam took a step back, letting both of them catch their breath.

“Dean, you need to get your shit in order. He needs your help.”

Dean looked down and shook his head.

“I can’t help him. Look at me.”

Sam was certain that the deep breaths Dean was taking was his last resort in holding back tears.

“That’s not true. You are the only one who _can_ help him.”

Sam took a step closer and put his hand on Dean’s shoulder, but Dean moved away and walked to the window where he could barely see Jack though the blinds.

“I’m making it worse.”

“You are.” Sam was not going to lie. Dean was making everything worse. Him freaking out was not going to help but if he were to leave Sam was sure he’d had to sedate Jack to help him. “You are making it worse for the both of you.”

“I should leave.” Dean’s hands were holding on to the frame of the window and Sam wondered if he would fall down if he let go.

“You’re _not_ leaving!” Sam calmed himself down and stayed at a distance. “You’ve made a mess, and you are the only one who can get that kid out of it!”

Dean stood still for a second and then turned around looking confused at Sam. “Sam. He’s better off with you here.”

“Dean listen.” Sam stepped a bit closer and surprisingly Dean didn’t react. “He’s freaking out, but he’s not scared. Not really.”

“You’re not making sense. You know that, right?”

Sam sighed with a small smile. “You saved that kid. You used your own time to give him a taste of normality, and when he was too old for the program you brought him in to our home. He would have ended up on the streets. God knows he couldn’t stay with that father of his.”

 “Sam…” Dean stood up and stated slowly pacing the floor. “ _We_ took him in. _We_ made him a part of _our_ family. I’m not the only one he has.”

“You’re right. But, Dean, he idolizes you. I might be the surrogate older brother, and I love that, but you are so much more than that. He’s _your_ kid. He’d never had a real father.”

Dean froze and after a few seconds he lifted his gaze from the floor and his teary eyes found Sam. “I… Shit Sam. I’m not the right one for that.”

Sam quickly got to his brother and took his shoulders in firm holds, looking him straight in the eyes. “You _are_! And you _have been_ for the past year. Now listen…”

Dean looked slightly startled as he nodded, and Sam let go of his older brother.

“Think of how many times that man must have sent him to the ER. He’s been through worse than this, we know that. All the nights you’ve spent with him after a nightmare, has he ever once mentioned that part of it?”

Dean wiped his hand over his face, getting rid of a few escaped tears, and sat down on the small couch decorating the hallway. He looked at the floor and shook his head.

“He does everything you do, he studies you… Dean, he’s becoming just like you. It’s not _him_ being scared in there.”

Dean wiped away the last of the tears and looked up at his brother. “But… but _I’m_ …”

“Hey…” Sam sat down next to Dean. “You’re still freaked out over this place. I know. But I also know, that only one thing that can make you fight your way though that, and he’s lying in that rom.”

Sam looked at the door, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Dean do the same.

“Two.”

Sam looked at Dean and found him smiling back at him.

“Two things, Sam.”

Before Sam could swallow the lump in his throat and say something, Dean got on his feet. Shaking he grabbed the chair again and Sam stood up to steady him until he stood on his own.

“This place. Sam… I can barely walk.”

Sam walked to the door and took hold on the handle. “But you’re walking.”

Dean smiled and straightened his back before he walked towards Sam and the door.

“Now how did you become so damn smart?”

“I grew up wanting to be just like you, remember?”

Dean’s eyes flared up at Sam in surprise, but Sam continued before he could object or question the statement.

“The difference is that I was a kid and I’ve had twenty-five years to figure you out. Jack is eighteen and he’s in a hurry to figure _everything_ out. Now go in there and help him figure this out.”

* * *

Jack was still on his side and Dean wasted not time getting to the chair next to him.

“Jack…?”

The boy looked up at Dean, and Sam was almost sure he saw hint of a smile before the fear darkened his eyes and he tensed up.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay. Take a breather, okay?”

Jack nodded at Dean and looked quickly at Sam, who was standing back for the moment.

“Did you get some sleep?”

“I… I’m not sure.”

“Good.” Dean ruffled Jack’s hair. “You needed that. Now, when Sam is done patching you up, we can go home and you can sleep for a week.”

Jack’s breathing sped up and he pulled back from Dean, but Dean held his hand tight and steadied with a firm grip on his upper arm.

“Hey, it’s okay. Sam know what he’s doing. There’s no reason to be scared.”

“But…” Jack looked at Dean’s hand around his. It was Dean who was responsible for their hands shaking.

“I know. But you’re smarter than me.”

Jack shook his head, more in confusion than disagreement. Sam took place behind Jack again and put a light hand on his elbow, right next to Dean’s hand.

“Listen, Jack. Dean can’t help it. It’s encoded in him by now and no one can reason with that.”

Dean chuckled and both other guys turned their attention to him.

“No one can ever reason with me.”

Sam started unwrapping the sterile utensils he needed, Jack was clearly aware and tried to turn to see, but Dean kept him on his side.

“Jack.” There was that stubborn voice Sam had known forever. The voice Dean used when he’d already made his mind up. “Sam can reason with you. He can tell you how things are and because you are smart, you believe him.”

Jack was silent, but Sam noticed that his back and shoulders was moving slower for every breath. Sam rolled closer on the small chair and put on gloves.

“I’m just taking of the bandage first.”

“No… wait…”

Jack pulled himself closer to Dean, but Dean pushed him back with a firm hand on his shoulder. “Jack you can turn this around. You’re strong enough.”

The two of them looked at each other for what seemed forever, but Sam waited. Eventually, Jack let himself relax and nodded at Dean.

“Let me explain first. Okay, Jack?”

“Okay.”

Sam didn’t touch Jack or anything else while he spoke. “I’ll take of the bandage and then I will have to numb the cut. It will be two maybe three injections.” He paused to look for a response and maybe to answer an objection from the boy, but nothing came.

Dean and Jack was keeping eye contact and as far as Sam could see on Dean’s face, there was no reason to expect that Jack would run away anytime soon.

“After that, it wont hurt. You’ll feel me touching you, but no pain.”

Jack still didn’t speak or move. Sam wondered if he was fighting not to sleep again. God knows he needed sleep. They just had to get this done first.

Sam removed the bandage slowly and Jack hissed and tensed his back. “I know. It’ll be better soon. How are you feeling?”

As few strained breaths later, Jack took a deep one. “I’m good.”

The kid sounded more tired than he looked and Sam was sure that if they had to keep him up for much longer, he’d start crying. But his words were clear and he didn’t sound scared.

“Good. Hang on to Dean through this.”

Sam took the syringe and tapped the bubbles to the top. When he turned to Jack’s shoulder, he saw Dean’s pale face with eyes locked on the needle. He looked like he could drop to the floor any second.

“Dean!”

As if Sam had just woken him from a deep sleep, Dean looked confused at his little brother.

“I know, okay? But you can’t pass out now. Look at Jack.”

Dean nodded, put his elbows on his knees and took both of Jack’s hands in his.

Sam got back to worrying about his actual job. “You ready, Jack?”

“Yeah.”

Sam placed the needle next to the wound and pushed it slowly through the skin. Jack was clearly controlling his breathing very carefully, but he didn’t move until Sam started to push in the anesthetic.

“Dean…”

Jack’s legs curled up on him and his fingers were boring holes in Dean’s hands. Dean leaned in to get closer to the boy’s face and broke a hand free to place it in his messy hair.

“Easy there. We’ve got you. Almost done.”

Dean looked up at Sam, prompting him to confirm the statement. Sam was amazed as to how well the two of them were handling this.

“This one should be easier. It’s beginning to work. You’re doing great.”

During the last injection Sam praised the fact that within seconds Jack wouldn’t be in pain anymore. Dean seemed to be doing the same. He had his chin rested on all four of his and Jack’s joined hands, looking at the face of the only person in the world that might be more tired than him right now.

* * *

“It might feel cold when I’m cleaning the cut, but Jack, you won’t feel any pain.”

Jack nodded slowly and Dean smiled at the boy, so Sam started. Jack shivered when the water ran over his spine and landed in the towel Sam had put there. When the antiseptic did the same, he only filled his lungs a little faster, but was back to the slow pace with the next breath.

The room was quiet as Sam worked. He kept an eye on Jack’s breathing and his hands in Dean’s. Both were calm. Dean was too. After the first stitch was placed and none had reacted, Sam’s shoulders relaxed for the first time since he’d heard Dean’s voice on the other side of the elevator door. He still had work to do, he still had to make sure Jack would be okay and he still had to make sure that Dean didn’t pass out, but everything was easier now. Jack wasn’t scared. Sam hated when that kid was scared. He had felt physically ill the first time him and Dean had found him in pile of blankets and pillows on the floor, fighting some invisible horror. Sam’s hands worked as they had done a million times before, without him pausing or being afraid to do the next thing.

Dean seemed more relaxed too. If Sam had been overthinking everything because Jack was scared, he couldn't even imagine how much of a mess his brother’s head must have been. Sure, Dean was still tense, he was alert and he still seemed like he could throw up at any given moment, but he was there. He was talking and reacting when talked to. And most important; he was there for Jack.

Sam was almost done. He tied up the last of four stitches and put away the instruments.

“Jack…? Dean?”

Before he cleaned Jack’s back, he wanted to make sure they both knew that he was doing something new.

Dean smiled and then looked up at Sam without lifting his head.

“He’s out.”

Sam exhaled all the air in his lungs and could taste the relief on his own words. “He’s sleeping?”

Dean nodded and looked back at the boy between them.

Sam thought he was careful before, but that had been nothing compared to how he cleaned up Jack’s shoulder and back and placed a new bandage on the neatly closed cut. He moved everything out of the way and covered the boy with the sheet.

He walked behind Dean to look for himself. Jack was sleeping peacefully.

“You can take a break if you need it.” He placed a hand on Dean’s shoulder.

“I’m not leaving him again.”

Sam knew the answer would be something along that line. Dean was never one to give up unless he was hurting someone else by continuing…. And he _was_ stubborn.

Sam pulled his chair to Dean’s side of the bed and sat down next to his brother and watched the boy sleep.

* * *

“Go on, I’ll catch up.” Sam picked up the paperwork and started to sign a few pages while Dean handed Jack his jeans.

“Are you coming home? What about work?” Jack was fighting with the hospital gown Sam had brought him to replace the cut up t-shirt now lying in the trash.

“I found someone to cover for me. Your fever broke but you still need sleep, you both do.”

“We’ll be fine.” Dean stood ready to catch Jack if he were to fall over while getting op. “I can manage to tug this one in for the night.”

Jack scowled at Dean, but let him help with his jacket. Dean seemed in a hurry to get out. Sam was sure he was. His hands were still shaking when he didn’t use them.

“I’m coming.” Sam placed the chart in the holder by the door. “None of you can drive either way.”

“Hey!” Dean turned to look at his brother. “You didn’t drug _me_ , remember?”

Sam shook his head. “I didn’t drug Jack either. Maybe I should have drugged you. Then I could have given you a bag of blood. You still look like you need one.”

“Funny. Are you all about done, so we can leave?”

Sam held the door open. “Sure let’s go.”

Dean walked one step behind Jack, as if the kid was the one who might fall down. As they passed Sam, he put a hand on Dean’s shoulder.

“He’s fine.”

Dean nodded and seemed to get the air just a little deeper into his lungs. They both nodded and Sam followed Dean down the hall.

“But are you sure we shouldn’t bring home that blood bag?”

“Shut up, Sam!”

**Author's Note:**

> \- I wrote a story called 'Tender' which could fit as a sequel to this. -


End file.
